Read Amish Circle Letters for Free Online

outside. It was loud enough to be heard over the increasing downpour. She bent down and looked out the window but couldn’t see anything. A frown creased her forehead and she hurried over to the door. As she opened it and stepped onto the porch, she heard it clearly.
    “Mamm!”
    Elam was screaming and calling out her name. Her heart started to pound inside of her chest. Something bad must have happened. She started to run off the porch to head in the direction from which he was calling her, but before she got to the bottom step, she saw him running around the barn. He was wet and out of breath.
    “Lord, child! Slow down!” she called.
    She didn’t want to see him fall on the wet grass. But he continued to run. His eyes were wild and his skin pale. She reached out to take him in her arms when he bounded up the porch steps. He collapsed against her, his heart racing as he tried to catch his breath.
    “You need to go to Leah’s!”
    “What is it?” A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. Clearly something had happened. Was it the baby? “Calm down,” she asked as she placed her hands on his shoulders. “Take a deep breath and tell me what happened.” She sounded calmer than she felt. She had to.
    “There was an accident,” he gulped.
    Rachel gasped. “At Leah’s?”
    Elam shook his head. “ Nee , not at Leah’s. At the Yoder’s, next door.”
    For a moment, she couldn’t understand what he was saying. The neighbors had an accident? Why would Elam be running to her? Certainly it couldn’t be that bad. “The Yoder’s?” she asked, more for clarification.
    He stared up at his mamm. “Menno’s fraa …she’s dead!” Elam spurted with welling eyes.
    Rachel’s hand fluttered to her mouth. Dead? Dear Lord, she thought. Martha Yoder was so young, just thirty years old! They had children. Small children. No wonder Elam had come for her. Leah wouldn’t be able to handle the situation in the least. With the storm, it would take time for the family members to be notified. No one would be checking the phones in their barn this evening.
    “You stay with the kinner ,” she whispered and hurried out to the barn. She had to find Elijah and get over to Leah’s immediately. They would need to help Menno Yoder get through this tragedy, whatever had happened. An accident and a death would mean a lot of time spent healing for many people in the community, but for tonight, Rachel wanted to see how she could help Menno with his kinner until his own mamm could get to the farm.
    Once the buggy pulled up to Leah’s barn, Rachel jumped out and ran into the house. Elijah hitched the horse to the side of the barn and followed, just a few seconds behind her. The kinner were crowded around the table, several of them weeping as they clung to each other and their mamm. Leah and Mary Ruth did their best to console them and, when Rachel walked in, both women looked thankful.
    “It’s awful,” Leah said, jumping up to run to her older sister. She collapsed in Rachel’s arms. Leah had always been the fragile one, the sister who was unsure of herself and emotional. Rachel had learned to deal with it a long time ago. “I don’t know what to do!”
    “Get a hold of yourself,” Rachel said gently and held her sister at arm’s length. Leah was crying, which only made the kinner sob, too. “For the little ones,” she whispered. “Now, tell me what happened?”
    “It was an accident with the baler.”
    That didn’t make sense. “The baler?” Why would Martha be working a baler? In this weather? She glanced at her husband. He was pale and speechless.
    Leah nodded, trying to stifle a sob. “Martha saw the rain coming and hurried out with her oldest boy to start baling the hay. They had cut it last week for the campout, you know.”
    Rachel was well aware of that. Nathan and Elam had been so looking forward to the overnight with their friends. Everyone knew that Menno had cut hay early to accommodate the boys, but when